A New Team
by Phalanx30
Summary: A different "End of the Beginning" Jaune recognizes what Pyrrha is going to do after kissing him. Leading to a different course of events. A better world is the result, but at a much higher cost. Warning: Major Character Death


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing below except portions of the plot. All characters, locations, and concepts are held under their respective copyright holders.

 **Spoilers:** Everything up to and including RWBY Volume 5

 **Timeline:** Just after Jaune and Pyrrha exit Beacon Tower on Ozpin's orders.

 **Author's note:** As with all of my stories, suggestions about future plot developments are welcome and wanted, Reviews of any kind are very much wanted as well. See the Author's note at the end of the Chapter.

 **A New Team Ch. 1 – A Pivotal Decision, a Better World, However...**

"There's no time, Go. Get to Vale and call for help"

Jaune looked at Pyrrha in surprise. It seemed she had already made a decision, and the way she was looking at the tower 'She's getting ready for a fight...Oh no'

But he asked her nonetheless "Huh? What are you gonna do?"

He saw her look at the Tower again and thought 'I knew it, she's going to fight Cinder, but she can't, Cinder is on another level'

Jaune gave voice to his fears, he had to try "No… no, Pyrrha, you can't. You saw how powerful she is! Pyrrha, I won't let you do-"

His thoughts and his voice were stopped when Pyrrha turned and kissed him. This was no peck. Pyrrha always fought with everything she had, and apparently, she did the same in other pursuits as well. All red hair and green eyes, and while he had his eyes closed for the moment, he could picture her perfectly. Having seen her fight so very many times, she was nothing less than a warrior, in body and soul.

It was then that a horrible realization set in, the "why" of the kiss. Pyrrha had always helped him, she trained him, she saved him during the Initiation in the Emerald Forest. She was even kind enough to unlock his Aura, he still remembered the warm feeling of his own soul newly coursing through him, protecting him, helping him get one step closer to becoming a true Huntsman, and Pyrrha had done that for him. Now she was giving him one final gift, her feelings for him. He wasn't the leader of Team JNPR for nothing. He knew that Pyrrha sought him out for a reason, for comfort, to be his partner at Initiation, and finally when she had indirectly asked for his advice about taking the Fall Maiden powers.

After all they had been through, she had become his best friend, and he had a hunch of what she might do after the kiss ended. In preparation for that likely course of action, Jaune shook off his surprise and wrapped his arms around Pyrrha and braced, locking his hands together.

His suspicions were confirmed when she pulled out of the kiss and said "I'm sorry" with that hitch in her voice that meant that she was sad to have to say it.

Jaune felt her try gain some separation and he could swear he saw her Semblance activate, a black tinge of Aura around her hands. However; whatever she had planned, she would have to first break the preemptive hug that trapped her now. If she did that, Jaune would likely lose his arms, and he would subsequently bleed out. He moved his hands to grasp his own opposite forearms. Leaving her was not an option, he knew her too well.

As for Pyrrha, even now, she didn't want to hurt Jaune, even though she was perfectly capable of doing so, her polarity semblance could grasp Jaune's armor and fling him away like a rag-doll. She had done it before inadvertently, she could still remember Jaune plastered to the outside wall of the cafeteria, with cracks in the wall spider-webbing out from the impact. But first she tried speaking "Jaune, let me go, Now."

And Jaune thought back to a motivational talk that Ruby gave him earlier that year "Nope." a simple, unequivocal statement.

"What do you mean, Nope" Pyrrha was getting angrier by the second.

Jaune sighed "I'm not letting go of you, until you agree to let me help you. You'll have to try and kill me to force me away."

"Jaune, I don't want to see you hurt or killed by Cinder, I do know how powerful she is, and I know I have no chance against her, but I don't have to beat her, all that I need to do is buy time until someone else comes to take my place. Eventually, she will fall, she can't beat all of us." Pyrrha knew she was right.

But Jaune was having none of it "Hey Pyrrha, she hit me, remember. She could have killed me right then and there, she was holding way back, and this is me we're talking about, I know what it feels like to be hit by someone or something stronger than me. But you misunderstand, I heard what Ozpin said, the Tower cannot fall. It's not that I don't want you to go up there, I just don't want you going alone."

"Jaune, please, this is my job, my destiny, and I don't want to watch you die." but Pyrrha was silenced in turn by another kiss.

After which Jaune said "You won't have to, I know the two of us can't beat her, I'm not the leader of this team for nothing, we have friends we can call, and that Dragon is going to draw whoever else we need here anyway. Just give me a moment, let me see who I can call, and whoever comes we'll go up and face that witch. Please, Pyrrha, just a moment."

"Alright, make your calls, but if you can't reach anyone, promise me you'll run and get help." Pyrrha finally gave in, she still wanted the caveat, so she could do this alone if necessary. She didn't fear death, but she didn't want to lose her friends, especially Jaune. At another time, the kiss he had just given her would've floored her, it looked as if Jaune had finally gotten the hint. She couldn't help the small blush.

Jaune let go of Pyrrha, he glanced at her with a small smile, she could still use her semblance to send him away, on looking around, he saw exactly how she would've gone about it, a number of school weapons lockers, which could be called to a student's location via rocket motor and ballistic trajectory, were scattered around the courtyard. He figured she would've pushed him into one and sent him off towards Vale

For her part, Pyrrha saw Jaune's silent assessment. He had come a long way from not having a landing strategy during Initiation. It was a good thing she had helped him, especially considering that he lacked any knowledge, or ability, to use Aura. If he had hit the ground, or had she missed her spear throw, Jaune surely would have died.

While Pyrrha was reminiscing about simpler times, Jaune was trying, and failing, to deal with the current situation. His Scroll still worked, he tried calling Glynda Goodwitch, one of his teachers' and someone Ozpin trusted without question. Unfortunately, the communication system was clogged. Glynda could not be reached. He would guess that she was busy fighting or directing the evacuation, there was still a battle going on. Then he remembered what he told Pyrrha earlier, the Dragon would eventually bring someone with more experience.

Then Jaune had an epiphany, he was going to call the rest of Team JNPR, Nora and Ren would be welcome, but there was one problem. Pyrrha was right earlier, there was no telling what Cinder could do with unfettered access to Beacon Tower, she had already crippled the majority of the Atlesian military protecting the Vytal festival. So there was no time. Jaune remembered Team RWBY, especially their leader. Ruby was fast, she could be here, now, if she had the right motivation.

He tried calling Ruby, but again, no luck, 'damn Scroll service' then he went down the list of her Team members, Weiss was next. This time the call went through, being a citizen of Atlas and the heiress to Schnee Dust Company seemingly had some perks. Now he hoped that she answered. When he finally heard her answer, he reflected that he would have been over the shattered moon that she was even talking to him until recently.

"Where are you?" Weiss was a bit frantic, there were lots of Grimm around.

Jaune didn't have time to worry about that "We're at the bottom of Beacon Tower, Cinder is at the top, where's Ruby?"

"She's with me, why?" Weiss was confused, Jaune sounded different, purposeful even.

Jaune smiled, "Tell her, we need her here right now, there's going to be a big fight."

He heard Weiss mumble something, presumably to Ruby then she said over the Scroll "Alright, we're on our waaaaaaaa-"

Weiss' voice rose to a scream that Jaune first heard on the Scroll, and then he saw, and he almost couldn't believe it. He heard Weiss' scream as a blur of rose petals surrounded a missile of red and white heading straight for him and Pyrrha down the main thoroughfare of the Beacon courtyard.

The screaming stopped when the missile did, Ruby appeared to be none the worse for wear, and Jaune could swear she was smiling just a little bit. Weiss on the other hand was still spinning "-ayyy...Ruby! What was that, I think I'm gonna be sick." Jaune noted that the usually prim and proper ice queen looked rather green and unsteady.

Ruby chuckled a bit "Sorry Weiss, but you did say we needed get here fast. Hey Jaune..." Ruby looked past him and saw Pyrrha "...hey Pyrrha, are you two alright?"

"We're fine, but I have a question, how did you get here so fast?" Pyrrha knew that Ruby was fast, but this was ridiculous.

Ruby sobered a bit and stopped smiling "We made a promise to your team, Ren and Nora are both hurt, me and Weiss are fine so far."

Jaune noted she didn't mention Blake or Yang, and he saw her eyes go downcast when she talked about her and Weiss "Well, no matter how it happened, we're very glad you're here. Cinder, well we don't know what she did, but she was fighting Ozpin, and now she's at the top of the Tower."

Ruby gasped and Weiss cut in "Let me guess, you want to go up there, and fight with Cinder, and lets not forget the giant Dragon Grimm flying around."

"Yeah, basically, Ozpin said to get help, that the Tower could not fall, we tried calling, we only got through to you Weiss." Jaune didn't want to relive his experience with Pyrrha earlier, there would, hopefully, be time enough to talk about that later, provided they all survived.

Weiss beamed at her upgraded Scroll, while Ruby got back to the matter at hand "So...Cinder? what are we dealing with here."

Pyrrha was about to speak up, but Jaune interrupted "Um, she's really powerful now, she hit me once, I got lucky, she was holding back and I did block a little bit, but she was fighting Ozpin, and now she isn't."

"Okay, so, what's the plan?" Ruby was looking at the Tower now, and tracking the Dragon when it flew overhead.

Jaune considered the situation, Cinder was powerful, the four of them were obviously going to go up the Tower, but they couldn't fight without a course of action, otherwise they would lose, they would simply be over-matched "We need to work as a team, she is stronger than all of us, maybe even put together."

"But why is she that powerful now?" Weiss could fight better if she understood her enemy.

But now was not the time for this discussion, and Jaune knew this, he also knew one thing that Weiss didn't "It doesn't matter, she already beat Ozpin, we don't know if he's dead or not. So there's that. But we do have one advantage, there's four of us."

"Why would that matter?" Ruby could kind of, sort of see the point, they had Cinder outnumbered.

At this point Pyrrha cut in "Ruby, please, just trust Jaune here, but know this, none of us can fight Cinder alone."

Jaune smiled at his partner "Thanks Pyrrha," and then he turned his attention back to Ruby "It matters because she is super strong, if we work as a team, we might have a chance, and we can't just leave her up there with access to the CCT network. She could sow more panic than she already had in Vale, and more than that in the rest of the four kingdoms."

"Ok, save the world, no pressure." Ruby giggled in spite of the dire situation. Distrust, discord, panic and conflict would inevitably draw the creatures of Grimm, and the entire world was watching the Vytal festival. The longer this went on, the worse it would get, Beacon Academy was already overrun, and the City of Vale was, for the moment, holding on through the combination of the remainder Atlesian military (minus their air support), any Huntsmen and Huntresses in the city who were attending the festival, and all the students of the four academies, all of whom were in training to combat the Grimm and other forces of evil, not to mention Vale's own defenders (police and military).

Jaune grinned at Ruby, in her own way, she had a kind of wisdom in simplicity, not to mention her optimism "Yeah, save the world, and how we do it, we beat Cinder, either we force her to retreat, or, you know..."

Pyrrha could understand Jaune's reluctance, sure he had killed creatures of Grimm, but he had never had to kill someone, for that matter, neither had Pyrrha before today, that was until the fight with Penny mere hours ago. Pyrrha had been tricked, and she had used her semblance and she had literally torn Penny to pieces."We know, Jaune, we don't know for certain, but it's likely Cinder already killed Ozpin, so we can't hold back."

"Right, so here is what we do, we can't let her attack. You three have long range weapons. I don't. Somebody has to be constantly shooting at her, and somebody has to close with her, to keep her attention. For example, Ruby, you and Weiss would start off at long range while me and Pyrrha would attack her directly." Jaune was thinking of all of the different combinations. Pyrrha's rifle, Ruby's High Impact Sniper Scythe, and Weiss' Dust shooting Rapier.

While Jaune was thinking, Ruby and Weiss shared a look and a thought 'Ice Flower' here was a perfect opportunity to use it again. Not to mention the possibilities with Jaune and Pyrrha, and Ruby and Weiss' Semblances "Sounds good, but Jaune, Weiss can give you a sort of a long range attack with your shield and her glyphs." Ruby was also thinking about her speed, her and Jaune, or Pyrrha, well their shields could serve as neat battering rams.

"Alright, let's get up there, remember, don't let her breathe, the more time she has to build up an attack, the worse it will be for us." Jaune could still remember the hit Cinder gave him, she had just struck his shield, but it still hurt, far more than a simple attack like that should hurt, and that was with his Aura at full strength and with him partially enraged at Cinder's recent killing of the girl that who was giving her Aura to Pyrrha.

He looked at each of his new, ad hoc team, in turn, and with what he hoped was firmness and determination said "lets go."

With that, the remnants of Team RWBY and JNPR ran to meet their fate, whatever that might be, as they entered Beacon Tower.

* * *

Cinder was, in a word… irritated, no that was wrong, she was angry

Here she was, the new Fall Maiden. She now wielded immense power, over the very forces of Remnant itself. Fire, Ice, Wind, and every other natural element. She now had her dream of being powerful, and soon she would be feared, she had killed Ozpin, and the school at Beacon had all but fallen, and Vale was under siege by the Grimm she had drawn with her plans and those of her master. Soon, all of the other Kingdoms would fall, and humanity and Faunus-kind would be made to see their place in the world, in service to those like Cinder, her master, or the White Fang, however; if they would not submit, then they would suffer the same fate as Beacon and Vale

And yet… all was not well.

There were still some at Beacon who would never accept the inevitable. Four of these insects had foolishly decided to face her. Given her new power, the battle should have been over rather quickly.

But these four had defied her, they had the gall to think they could win. They certainly fought like it.

First there was the fool from earlier, an amateur Huntsman-in-training, wearing antiquated armor and using ancient weapons, he was truly pitiful. Except for one thing, no matter how many times she hit him, whether he blocked or not, he kept attacking her. He was slow, and his attacks were straightforward, a sword and shield did not allow for much variation. Except when he was helped by one of his friends. And it seemed as if she wasn't inflicting any damage at all. One-on-one, Cinder had no doubts she could beat him easily.

However…

The wannabe knight was not alone, she didn't even remember his name, it didn't matter anyway, he would soon be dead, along with all of his friends.

These friends were noteworthy, at least enough to remember their names.

Cinder considered Pyrrha Nikos to be the biggest threat, she was a warrior, her close range attacks were all but perfect in execution, and her long range rifle fire was pinpoint, she was a marksman. And it was all Cinder could do to avoid being riddled with with bullets, sliced open, or impaled. But for all of that, she had grudging respect for Pyrrha, she, along with the fool, fought her head on.

It was with the other two where the irritation came in. Ruby Rose was like a gnat, her close range attacks were unpredictable, but they were hit-and-run, and they never did much damage, her rifle fire was more damaging than Pyrrha's, but it wasn't sustained. Seemingly, Ruby's strategy was using her speed, as Cinder could not land an attack on her.

It was the same with Weiss Schnee, the heiress was precise with her attacks, in both short- and long-range. She seemed to always hit, but her glyphs gave her and her teammates certain advantages. Cinder was given a painful reminder of when Ruby shouted something, and Weiss had responded, and Cinder found her hand and other parts of herself encased in ice, for a moment. Her affinity for fire, along with the Maiden powers, made the ice inconsequential. Even that fool of a knight used a glyph to gain a surprising boost in speed, and after that Cinder knew to be wary of the boy's shield. The impact had hurt, incredibly enough.

Going back to Ruby, she used her speed in much the same way. Sometimes she would grab one of her teammates and zoom towards the close-in fight for a strong and fast initial strike. Pyrrha and the fool tended to use their shields, but sometimes Pyrrha was surprising, she was always searching for an opening. And Weiss' rapier coming in at incredible speeds was quite dangerous.

Cinder was powerful, and along with that she was also perceptive. The strategy of the four facing her became apparent by the time the foolish knight attacked her for the fourth time. She had time enough to gain some space after each attack, but she could never gain enough time for a decisive strike on any of her opponents.

The battle was grueling, and Cinder was shocked to discover that even her immense power had limits and it was actually declining. If this continued, eventually her Aura would be drained, and then even one of the insects could seriously hurt her, or maybe even…

And there it was, the mere possibility of her being defeated, no matter in what form, was the last straw. She had already killed Ozpin, and she would not be beaten by children. Cinder had even warned the Dragon away from the Tower, her irritation was so deep, this was her fight and hers alone.

Cinder hadn't really been able to test the Maiden's powers, the fight with Ozpin was far too short, intense, but short. He was neither stronger or faster than she was. He was outmatched in every way. The four that were fighting her now had a number of advantages over her. But one that they didn't have would be their undoing, in terms of pure power, only Pyrrha came close, and she just had a fraction of the power Cinder currently possessed, even depleted as it was.

The solution was fairly simple, yet very dangerous for those facing her. The first step was flaring of her power in all directions, she just needed some space. The added advantage to this flare up was that it was able to impact Aura. Cinder noted with satisfaction that the foolish knight and the Schnee heiress both had their reserves of strength exhausted, it was disappointing, only two out of four. Ruby and Pyrrha were still in the fight, though they were momentarily stunned.

Cinder considered step two, she needed to end this now. She had used this attack before against Ruby during the dance before the tournament. With one slight modification, Maiden powers really were the best. She conjured her glass, Dust, and magic imbued Bow, and she thought for a split second, and five arrows were at the ready.

Cinder loosed one at the foolish knight, one each at Ruby and Pyrrha, and saving the last two for Weiss Schnee, she figured killing one of them outright would crush their morale, and bring about a swift end to the fight.

This wasn't to say that she fired the arrows one after the other. Her speed was such that they seemed to be fired all at once.

Cinder noted with satisfaction that her targeting of the Schnee heiress was rewarded with two solid hits, with her Aura drained and her defenses shattered, this wasn't surprising, there was only one problem, the wounds were not immediately fatal, but mortal the wounds were, given time or an exertion of the power of the Fall Maiden on the arrows. Weiss' gasp of pain was just an added bonus. Morale and hope were such delicate things.

Moving on to Ruby, Cinder was again satisfied, her Aura was not drained, and she managed to block the arrow, for a price. The shaft of her scythe was shattered, and her weapon was broken beyond repair. Except for her speed, she was out of the fight, and could be dealt with at leisure.

Turning her attention to Pyrrha and the fool, Cinder became less happy, the arrow heading for Pyrrha had been deflected by the foolish knight, the stupidity of the move was compounded by the fact the Huntsmen-in-training had taken a wound he could have otherwise blocked. She was all but sure she saw his Aura flicker and fade away from her earlier attack, but his shield was old and well-made, it would have withstood her arrow.

Instead, he had neglected his own defense in favor of making sure that Pyrrha didn't get hit. From what Cinder could see, he had dove shield-first at the arrow headed for Pyrrha, it had clattered off the to side, and the arrow meant for him had found its mark in the area below his breastplate, again the wound was not instantly fatal, but again, if Cinder could end the fight soon, it would kill him all the same.

Cinder noticed that Ruby had spotted the wounds that had felled her teammates, and she looked stricken at the loss of her weapon, and Pyrrha was distracted as well, what with her focus on the fool who had, for the moment, saved her.

One more volley was all it would take. Then these children, these insects who had dared to challenge her would be squashed, just like Ozpin.

She had just materialized three more arrows, when she heard an anguished scream, she stopped for a second to look at Ruby, and was met with a wave of power, it seemed as if it flowed from the eyes of the tiny huntress. Cinder smirked, this attack, like all of the others, would surely fail, she braced for impact, and the power engulfed her.

How wrong she was…

* * *

For Ruby, the fight had been going well. Jaune's plan, vague as it was, had worked. Cinder was kept on the defensive. Even the team attacks had worked better than expected, except for Ice Flower, Cinder was true to her name. Darn fire.

They all had even done some damage, Ruby could tell from the odd misstep that Cinder took, that the team had the initiative. As long as that remained the case, the fight was as good as won.

As if just thinking it had jinxed the whole thing, Cinder exploded with power. Luckily Ruby was moving when this happened, so she was able to avoid the main blast wave. Ruby looked to Weiss and noticed she was not so lucky. She was down, and even Ruby could tell without her Scroll, that Weiss' Aura was gone.

She was going to check on Jaune and Pyrrha, who were farther away, but she first had to deal with incoming fire. Cinder with her stupid volley of arrows. Ruby moved to block, she had seen these arrows before, on the night of the dance. Back then she had avoided them, this time it would be faster to block, so she could counterattack right away. The block was easy, and Ruby was planning her next move when she heard three things.

First, a gasp of pain from Weiss, arrows had pierced both legs just below the bottom of her skirt, it was ridiculous, they had punched right through and the arrows stuck, Weiss wouldn't be dancing, or walking for that matter, for a while.

Second, an unmistakable Jaune-like groan, along with Pyrrha and her exclamation of "Jaune!", Ruby cringed at the arrow sticking out of his stomach, but Pyrrha had him covered so Ruby wasn't worried. He would be fine as well.

It was then that Ruby registered the third thing she heard, a sound of metal cracking and then shattering, and she saw the blade of her scythe, Crescent Rose, fall into her field of vision, flipping end over end until it hit the ground. And she felt the rest of her beloved scythe, which doubled as the barrel for her sniper rifle, shudder and start to collapse. A pile of broken parts was all that was left. Her baby, her sweetheart, her Crescent Rose, was gone.

The wounds to her friends were bad enough, the loss of her weapon added on to that, and then she saw Cinder readying another volley of arrows, and now Ruby couldn't block or attack, and Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha, were all in more danger than before. Cinder was going to kill them all.

Ruby felt something shift within her, a well of untapped power, and more importantly, the will to stop Cinder. The power burned and it hurt as it left her, she had time enough to scream and have one thought 'why is it coming out through my eyes?'

The power flooded the room, washed over Cinder, caught the Dragon Grimm in the wave, and Ruby blacked out.

* * *

Jaune was pissed off

They had the fight won, damn it all. The plan had worked. Cinder was on her heels constantly. Sure she could lash out, and then the team would switch their close- and long-range attacks. All of the different rotations worked to one degree or another.

He would freely admit, all of his teammates were amazing. He already knew that about Pyrrha. And he had seen Ruby and Weiss fight multiple times. But all of them had kicked everything into another gear for this one.

In spite of all their efforts, Cinder found an opening, and she had done exactly what Jaune had feared. Her power flared, and Jaune could feel the warmth and energy of his Aura dissipating, it was a strange and uncomfortable feeling, he hadn't felt this vulnerable since before Initiation. He hadn't admitted this to Pyrrha, but when her spear had snagged his hoodie mid-flight, he kind of freaked out. Only after hitting the tree and realizing he wasn't about to die, did he offer his heartfelt thanks.

And Jaune was broken from reverie by an arrow flying towards Pyrrha. He was too far away to put himself fully between her and the approaching projectile. He did the next best thing, he took two steps and dove, shield first, and felt the 'clunk' of a deflection. He rejoiced at his success, for a second.

The next thing Jaune knew, he was flat on his black, and Pyrrha was looking down at him worriedly. Then he felt the pain, and saw why. Jaune cursed all of the action movies he had seen, they made being wounded seem so cool and a minor hindrance. Now Jaune knew the truth, a major wound hurt a lot, and he knew, if he moved it would hurt more. He didn't want that at all. Then there was Pyrrha, she was obviously worried about him, it was sweet, and it deserved more than a smile, but that was all he could manage right now.

Then Jaune was broken from his Pyrrha tunnel-vision by Weiss' gasp, and an unnatural shattering, and he looked at Ruby and Weiss. Weiss was down, and, by the Gods was she in a bad way. Although Ruby might be worse off, her Crescent Rose was gone. And that was the same as killing Ruby's significant other, if she had such.

Finally, Jaune turned his attention to Cinder, and of course she was getting ready to fire again. They had the battle won, damn it. And now they were all going to die.

It was as if the universe had it in for Jaune, Ruby made him look like an idiot for even thinking they were going to lose or die. The wave of power was blinding, but other than that Jaune didn't feel much from the power, except that it didn't hurt. Which was quite odd when compared to Cinder's power flare.

By the time the light faded, Jaune took in the result. Ruby was down, not hurt, just unconscious. Cinder though, "Uh, Pyrrha, you're seeing this, right?"

"Jaune, yes, Cinder is heavily damaged, her left side took most of it. Looks as if she's lost an eye, and her left arm has been removed, I'd say this battle is over." Pyrrha was still worried, Jaune and Weiss needed medical attention, and Ruby was still out, it was likely she needed help after that explosion of power..

Jaune interrupted her "She's not dead yet." there was a hardness there that Pyrrha had never heard before. He had led them up the Tower and now only Pyrrha was in any shape to continue the fight.

"Jaune, she's no threat anymore. And you and the rest of our team need help, I can get you all down from here..." In the back of her mind, Pyrrha was still clinging to a small voice that said that killing Cinder at this point was ruthless and unnecessary.

But Jaune knew and saw, Cinder was hurt, but she was still active, and she was still powerful, and he finally snapped "Pyrrha! Just end this, use your Semblance, remember your fight with Penny, do that again, before she can hurt us more."

"Why would you bring that up now?..." Pyrrha was about to continue, when she heard Jaune say before he started screaming

"Oh no, I knew it..." as the arrow that had pierced him began to glow, and burn. And Jaune and Weiss screamed and thrashed from the pain, it didn't take long for their cries and movement to become frantic. The pain was so intense, and Jaune could do little more than focus on Pyrrha, who was trying and failing to soothe him.

Then the pain stopped, the arrow was burning, but Jaune's movements slowed, and then stopped, and there was something pulling him into sleep and beyond, he wanted, no he needed to stay awake, but this new force was irresistible.

* * *

Pyrrha didn't know what to do, Jaune was in terrible pain.

Then terrible pain became something worse, Jaune stopped thrashing, and while he was still looking at her, his eyes became wide and fixed.

She had seen that look once before, Penny after she had been killed. Her first thought was 'Jaune...No!' and she would have continued her mourning for awhile but for the situation.

Her second thought turned her inner voice much harder 'Cinder killed him, Cinder killed him, She killed him! Jaune, you were wrong, I did have to watch you die, you idiot.'

Then Pyrrha pulled her attention back to Cinder, Jaune was right before, this had to end. Pyrrha had hesitated one time too many, no more. She remembered Jaune's last order. Then she searched for weapons. There were her own spear and shield of course, there was Jaune's sword and shield, Ruby's Scythe blade, and Weiss' Rapier rounded out her potential ammunition, she noticed Weiss as well, but nothing could be done, Weiss and Jaune were in the same place now. She decided not to use the shields, Cinder didn't deserve to be bludgeoned, she deserved to be hurt.

Pyrrha didn't waste anymore time, she gathered up all the weapons she had previously identified, her Semblance made them all float, and with a thought of vengeance, she removed any limits she usually placed upon herself, her Spear, Jaune's Sword, Ruby's Scythe, and Weiss' Rapier screamed toward Cinder.

The Rapier hit first, then Pyrrha's own Spear, then Jaune's Sword, and finally the distinctive Scythe blade. Aerodynamics accounted for the staggered arrival. Pyrrha noted sourly, the hits were solid, all center mass, she wanted to make sure they would hit, accuracy was less important than making each shot count.

There was one problem though, Cinder was still alive. Pyrrha sighed in defeat, after everything they had done, everything she had done, Cinder was still going to win. Jaune and Weiss were still dead, and their sacrifice would seemingly be in vain.

However; Cinder was in no mood to fight anymore, she made to stand, Pyrrha noted absently that her final attack had caused a number of severe wounds, most of the weapons had punched right through Cinder, only Ruby's Scythe was still stuck, Now, Cinder would have trouble using her right arm as well, the shoulder was still center mass after all.

But Cinder was still moving, and Pyrrha had nothing left. And then, as if some outside force was helping her, she heard two feet hitting the Tower floor simultaneously. She looked around and saw a most welcome sight, and her thoughts turned back to Jaune 'He was right, the Dragon would draw someone else.' at thinking of Jaune, Pyrrha wept at thinking of her partner. The loss was just hitting her. But she had to keep a level head for a bit longer.

The desire for vengeance still simmered, and now Pyrrha had another tool she could use. One Qrow Branwen, he already had his sword in hand. Pyrrha made a gesture and a sound, and Qrow looked at her, there was one thing left to say, she pointed at Cinder, and with a certain malice that was foreign to her, she spoke "End this."

Qrow simply nodded, he still remembered the attack on the previous Fall Maiden, and ran towards Cinder, he would not fail again.

Pyrrha saw Cinder try desperately to retreat, but her luck finally ran out, she slipped, and on righting herself, stumbled directly into Qrow and his weapon, the strike was true, and Cinder Fall, minus part of her head, was finally defeated.

But Pyrrha had no time to revel in the victory, as a golden power broke free from Cinder's body and flew at her, and then Pyrrha was infused with a power that overwhelmed her. As if to make this situation worse a combination of exhaustion, grief, an assurance of safety, the fact that they had won, and the new Power caused Pyrrha to slump over Jaune's body and succumb to unconsciousness.

* * *

The next thing Pyrrha knew, she was starting to wake up. She could tell she was resting on a nice, soft bed. She was warm, and could feel blankets around her. She expected to be in a hospital, but the smells didn't mesh, this place smelled of care, work, and a certain amount of love that went into a home. She could hear someone talking nearby. The voice sounded like Qrow, and someone was responding 'Ruby!'

Okay that was it, Pyrrha decided to fully awaken. On opening her eyes, she sat up and looked around the room. She was in a bedroom with wooden walls, and two beds. Ruby was in the other bed, with Qrow sitting in a chair beside her.

"Well, look who else is up, kiddo, can you fill in your friend, while I go talk to Tai, maybe he's got some food for you both. I'll be back with that in a while." Qrow stood up, glanced at both of them and left while thinking 'and maybe another drink for me, and lets not forget all of the other kids in the house, they were even managing to run Tai a bit ragged, and I've never seen that before.'

Ruby was still possessed of some joy Pyrrha couldn't quite understand when she said "Okay, uncle Qrow."

But then Ruby turned to look at her after Qrow left, and Pyrrha could see that Ruby had been crying, and there was something new to her, she now had been through some experience that had affected her deeply. Pyrrha was shocked to discover, Ruby always had some sort of innocence, in spite of everything, but there was so much less of it now, Ruby had hardened.

"R-Ruby, where are we?" Pyrrha wanted to get the basics out of the way first.

Ruby let a small grin escape "We're at my house, on Patch."

"What happened? I remember you unleashing a wave of power." Pyrrha was still trying to process everything that had occurred after, and wasn't quite ready to deal with what she knew to be true.

"Uncle Qrow said it's my silver eyes, apparently they're special, my Mom had them, and I have them. Dad told me I froze the Dragon, and really hurt Cinder, did I though?" Ruby had left out some rather more distressing pieces of information. She would let Pyrrha lead the conversation.

Pyrrha now thought back, and told Ruby "Yes, you damaged her almost decisively, Your power maimed her, the fight should have ended there."

"It didn't though, did it?" Ruby was now resigned to the fact that she would be confronted with the terrible truth, she had heard it all from her Dad and Qrow, but hearing it from one of her friends would be different.

Now Pyrrha sniffled, she had a story to tell, so she couldn't give in quite yet "Jaune told me, he told me to use my Semblance, to finally beat Cinder, and I… I hesitated… I'm so sorry"

"What for? Even if you had done it, you would've still needed Uncle Qrow to beat her, it should be me saying sorry, if I had dodged instead of blocked, I would have still been in the fight, I mean all of us could have done more." Ruby had heard from Qrow, everything that Pyrrha had done after the silver eyes, and she was telling the truth, they had underestimated Cinder and it had cost them.

Pyrrha was finally ready, the time for some true mourning was coming "But… Weiss… and Jaune, do you know, he saved me, that arrow was on target and he made sure it didn't hit me. And he paid for it with his life, it's not fair, it should have been me."

"Stop it… Can you imagine what would have happened to Jaune, if you'd been killed? As for Weiss, I already know, and it still hurts, and it will for a long time, Dad still can't talk about my Mom." Ruby knew Jaune had thought of Pyrrha as his best friend. And she couldn't help the hitch in her voice on thinking of Weiss.

But Pyrrha knew something Ruby didn't "I tried to send him away, I kissed him, and was going to face Cinder alone, but he stopped me before you and Weiss showed up, he saved me twice. And I had been training him in secret since after Forever Fall, so we were partners, and more, so I can imagine."

"Wait, you kissed Jaune, I mean everyone knew about your crush, but wow… okay, bad Ruby, some good news though, whatever you and Uncle Qrow did to Cinder, she's gone." Ruby had known, and seemingly everybody else on Team RWBY and Ren and Nora, knew of about Pyrrha's feelings for Jaune, everyone except Jaune. But this, this was big.

That was some consolation, the enemy had been defeated "It's alright, it doesn't really matter now, in spite of everything, I still had to watch him die. Oh, I almost forgot, didn't Crescent Rose get destroyed?"

If Pyrrha had been trying get Ruby off of the topic of Jaune and Weiss, she couldn't have picked a better segue, Ruby shifted from sadness to an almost manic glee. "I really did lose her, but, bright side. I get to do a redesign!"

Pyrrha edged away from Ruby, her fascination with weapons was something to behold, but luckily Qrow re-entered the room, bearing trays of food. And Pyrrha was about to tuck in when Qrow asked "So, Ms. Nikos, we've got a lot to talk about."

"It's just Pyrrha, please, we've been comrades in arms now, no need for formalities. What do we have to talk about, Cinder is dead, as are Weiss and Jaune." Pyrrha knew she would have tell the story of the fight to others, but for now she wanted to keep things simple.

Qrow cocked his head to the side, as if he was studying the girl. "Well, for starters, Cinder was the Fall Maiden, and I can't seem to find out who got her power, there's only two options, you and Ruby. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't have them, otherwise she would have woken up much earlier."

"Me, the new Fall Maiden? I don't think..." and then Pyrrha focused on her aura, and it was different from before, it was immense, she had gotten a massive new reservoir of power, and it was distinct, it was both part of her and not.

Qrow smirked, this whole situation had worked out fairly well, with Cinder having the Maiden powers, she could've caused untold trouble, but with Pyrrha, the power was in capable and trusted hands "You finally figured it out, sorry for being cryptic earlier, you had nightmares while you were out, and Ruby's dad has had to repair this room a couple of times, your new powers were not under control yet."

"I'm sorry..." Pyrrha was still processing, she now had legendary power.

Qrow interrupted "Don't worry about it, it gave Tai something to do, and with the rest of your team here, I've haven't seen him this happy in a while, that Nora girl keeps him on his toes."

"She tends to do that, so her and Ren are here, that's good to know. So, what am I supposed to do with these new powers, do Maidens have any specific duties?" Pyrrha couldn't help but smile at the mention of her team, what was left of it.

Qrow thought back to Ozpin, the Maidens were pivotal in more ways than one. "You're already a Huntress, the Maidens have a similar responsibility, but with an added focus, there are powerful enemies on Remnant, beyond any ordinary Huntsman, they are sometimes Grimm, and sometimes not. Eliminating those, when we find them, is now one of your jobs. The last thing you must do, is protect your power, you're the Fall Maiden, only you have access to the Relic at Beacon."

"The Relic, what is that? I know the story of the Four Maidens, but there were no relics, near as I can remember." Pyrrha took stock of her situation, a whole new chapter of her life had opened up, and it was a bit staggering, and she still didn't fully understand her new role.

Qrow rubbed his head and took a drink from his flask, this was why he quit teaching at Ruby's primary combat school "As for the Relic, there are four, one for each Maiden. Fall has the Relic of Choice, Spring has the Relic of Knowledge, Summer has the Relic of Destruction, and Winter has the Relic of Creation."

"Do I have to carry it around?" Pyrrha blinked, Qrow had given a speech, which he didn't usually do. He had dumped a great deal of information on her.

Qrow chuckled a bit, although the girl had made a point unintentionally, especially in light of the fall of Beacon "No, the Relics are kept safe in the Huntsman Academies in the four Kingdoms, for example, the Relic of Choice is at Beacon."

"Where are the other Relics, and why are they so important?" Pyrrha could grasp why the Academies were safe havens for the Relics, their were constantly Huntsmen and Huntresses at the schools, either on staff or in training.

Qrow took another drink, maybe Ozpin's idea of giving this girl Maiden powers was a mistake, she wanted information that Qrow would parcel out to anyone else over days at least "The Relics are powerful on their own, and together, they could remake the world. As to where they are, Knowledge is in Mistral, Destruction is in Vacuo, and Creation is in Atlas."

"Um, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby reminded everyone that she was still in the room.

Qrow, on realizing what he had just revealed to his niece, took another drink. "Yeah, kiddo?"

"These Relics, can they be used?" Ruby had noticed, a few of those would be very good to have around. Especially Destruction.

Qrow stopped, and thought "You'd have to ask someone else, my job is to keep track of and protect the Maidens."

"Do you know where they all are?" Pyrrha was now wondering. The enemy, whoever that was, would seem to want the Relics, and the Maidens were key.

Qrow chuckled a bit "Well, I've got a good fix on Spring, and Winter doesn't move around much, and obviously I know where Fall is right now. The only one I've lost track of is Summer, but that Maiden tends to travel quite a bit, so I'll pick up her trail soon enough."

"I guess that's right about Fall, I'm still getting used to that, as it is Mr. Qrow, could you go tell Ren and Nora to come up here, I need to see them." With that Pyrrha really started eating her food, she had been nibbling the whole time, but now she realized, her hunger was much larger than usual. And she saw Ruby doing the same.

Qrow turned, smiled at Ruby, who beamed back at him return, and turned back to the new Fall Maiden "Sure thing, Pyrrha, and for the record, I am sorry about your teammate, he seemed like a good kid, I'll see you both later."

As Qrow left Pyrrha mumbled, but Ruby could hear her, though Qrow couldn't "You've no idea just how good he was."

Ruby heard, and decided, after she had eaten, she would go see her sister, Yang was alright, but from what her Dad had said, she was hurt, badly. Besides the remainder of Team JNPR needed some alone time "Pyrrha, for whatever its worth, Jaune's plan would have worked, I could see it during the battle."

"Thank you, Ruby, and for whatever its worth, you saved my life with your silver eyes, in spite of everything we've lost, never forget that." Pyrrha couldn't help but be buoyed by the heartfelt smile from the other girl.

Ruby sat back in her bed, her meal finished "Huh, I guess I did forget, Welp, I need to check on Yang. I don't quite know what happened with her and Blake."

"Alright, we'll all probably be down for dinner, let your Dad know, and fill me in about your team okay, we need to know what we have to work with, for whatever comes next." Pyrrha could begin to hear Ren and Nora, well Nora at least, she was talking, and Ren was listening though Pyrrha couldn't make out the details.

Ruby got up, nodded and said "You got it" before she left the room, squeezing out as Ren and Nora entered.

Nora managed a quick "Hi, Ruby, and bye I guess" before she turned and the three members of Team JNPR were alone and waiting for someone to speak.

* * *

Pyrrha was the first to speak "I'm so… "

She never got to finish, Nora wasn't that fast, but she had launched across the room, and Pyrrha found herself in a crushing hug "It's okay, we know." and Pyrrha could feel the tears where Nora had her head tucked.

Ren cut in "We know a little about the battle, whatever happened, it was Cinder's fault. In light of that, well done." his stoicism served him well here. Inside, he was hit hard by Jaune's death. But he had to be there for Nora, even with her cheery demeanor, when she had heard about Jaune and Weiss, it was all he could do to hold her as she grieved. It was Nora who had insisted that both of them should join Ruby and Pyrrha on Patch, especially after seeing what happened with Yang and Blake. What was left of Team RWBY would need the remainder of Team JNPR.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha was confused, she was so focused on her failure, Ren had indicated that something positive had happened.

Nora pulled back enough to look at Pyrrha, and the hug lessened in its intensity "What Ren is trying to say, not only is Cinder dead, but Beacon is slowly being retaken. A huge battle is ongoing. Don't know how, but that Dragon got walloped, and Atlas is sending in more troops. The CCT is still up. So yeah, you guys did it."

Pyrrha allowed a small smile "I guess we did, I hear you've been keeping Ruby's Dad busy."

"Well, Nora likes to eat and fight, and Mr. Xiao Long likes to cook and spar. So it all works out." Ren couldn't help but smile at his best friend, partner, and teammate.

Nora had to beam at that, Ruby's Dad was so cool "It really has, but we're so glad you're finally awake." Tai's cooking was okay, not as good as Ren's (But with much more food, so that was a plus) and the sparing was good, he was a teacher at a combat school after all, and Ruby and Yang were both good fighters.

"It's good to know you guys are okay, Is there anything else going on? I mean I've been out of it for awhile, have I missed anything?" Ren and Nora seemed to have had the run of the house. Just maybe…

Ren and Nora exchanged a look and it was Ren who spoke, his face was quite somber "The rest of Team RWBY is not going to be part of whatever we do next."

Pyrrha processed this, So, as far as she knew, Ruby was okay, as were Ren and Nora. There was only one piece missing, "Both of our teams are broken."

"I would say RWBY is more damaged, but the bigger question is, what are we going to do now?" Ren had asked the next logical question.

Pyrrha had been considering this question ever since she woke up, and it was why she asked Qrow about the Relics and Maidens. She could still see it, Jaune jumping in front of her, his voice, telling her to kill Cinder, and his stricken look as he died. He didn't deserve his fate. "We need to restore who we lost, both of them."

"Well, how are we going to do that, I mean we'd need some kind of magic, and that kind of stuff doesn't exist" Nora was being quite blunt, but as far as she knew, she was telling the truth. Jaune and Weiss were dead, and there was nothing she knew that could bring them back.

Pyrrha crushed that truth when her eyes glowed with the power of the Fall Maiden "Well, have I got a story and a plan for you."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I planned this chapter out in detail, the AU divergence was crucial.

But I have a problem, I am unsure about where Team PRRN (any suggestion for an alternative team name would be appreciated) should go. Pyrrha wants Jaune back. That's a given.

So, the question becomes, how does Pyrrha go about doing that.

Option 1: Go to Haven Academy in Mistral (rewrite Season 4 with Pyrrha), with the added benefit of having more combat power for the rest of the story (the Relic of Knowledge will not be enough, the team will need at least one more to accomplish the mission), minus Weiss of course.

Option 2: Go back to Beacon, help retake the school, have Pyrrha retrieve the Relic of Choice, and use it. This will have the effect of turning this story into one of time-travel. Note: This would mean the entire team goes back (of course any modification to those going back would be welcome of course, I could see many limiting factors, the Relic itself, or Pyrrha being the Fall Maiden making her the only one to go back.)

Option 3: Have the team go to Atlas, find the Winter Maiden, retrieve the Relic of Creation, this has the benefit of having the resurrection happen earlier than Option 1, however Blake, Raven, and Oscar are on their own during the fight at Haven Academy.

Option 4: Pyrrha gets a hard edge, decides vengeance comes before anything else, so Vacuo is the destination, to get the Relic of Destruction, along with the Summer Maiden. To be unleashed on the world (against the Grimm, eventually Salem, and the White Fang, and it might lead to war among the kingdoms) but again Haven is less defended, and Ruby might not go along, sending her and Yang in a different direction (possibly to Haven, or Atlas, or to Blake in Menagerie) after the danger has passed, then Jaune can come back to a world that is less dangerous.

I leave it to reviewers to pick among these, so I am hoping for as many as possible to read and review.

 **Author's Note 2: Voting update:** If there are no other reviews for this chapter, then Option 2 (Pyrrha and the gang going back to Beacon, getting the Relic of Choice, and going back in time.) To all those who voted for the other options, thank you, and if you want to use this chapter as a basis for those, go ahead if you wish. As for this story, next up, Pyrrha tells Ren and Nora the plan, she finds out about Blake and Yang, Ruby gets a new weapon. And they head off for Beacon.


End file.
